Truckventure: Tygh Creek Road

 Over 4th of July weekend we finally had good weather and free time to go check out some rustic camping along Tygh Creek Road. A neighbor friend suggested this area last summer after we got the truck but we didn't make it out before the road closed for the winter.

The view from our campsite. Can you believe there was a burn ban?

Jordan Creek crevice.

Jordan Creek crevice the other way.

Tygh Creek Road runs right next to Jordan Creek, naturally. There is a nice swimming hole with a waterfall that is accessed by a chossy steep "trail". There's was a group there already with some floaty toys when we arrived. We found a free shelf of rock near the waterfall to dangle our feet in. The water was pretty cold, I'm impressed by the folks who were swimming around in it.

The view from my shelf.

View from shelf with toes.

  

Nick was relaxing too.

Unbeknownst to both of us, the camelbak was emptying itself the entire time.

We picked a campsite just up the road from the swimming path. It had a nice rock fire pit but there was a burn ban and everything was super dry so we didn't even bring wood with us. We did singe some leaves with the fresnel lens in the backyard last week though. I made my world-famous macaroni and cheese with a chicken packet and extra cheese powder. A wonderful evening was had by all. 

Our campsite.

Our campsite all set up.

The next day we hiked back down to the swimming hole to see if we could swim before the crowd arrived. I was building up my courage when Nick noticed a round worm trapped in a mini puddle next to the main pond (🤮). So we decided not to swim after all. 

The trail down to the swimming hole.

Swimming hole sans people.

Truckventure: Tygh Valley

 We took the truck over the mountains (actually we went out through the Gorge and came back through the mountains) to Tygh Valley last weekend. Since our trip to Panther Creek we've shortened the scaffolding in the back by 3 inches (guess the solar cell will have to ride on top) and it is way more comfortable to sleep back there. I also made window covers, but then I forgot to bring them with.

On Saturday we stomped around at White River Falls State Park. It has several impressive waterfalls and a decommissioned hydro station. They have a very cool placard showing you which areas to stay out of because otherwise the river will kill you. I didn't see anyone taking that advice though. I think as long as it doesn't rain it's fine. And as long as you don't fall in, I did see a couple people tempting fate on that front but nothing too egregious. Some folks must have had a wedding at the park because there were roses and rose petals all over.

The top cascade.

The power house from above.

Rose petal lined pathway.

I accidentally implied that Nick should be serious.

I swear that kid is not peeing.

Second cascade and pool.

Cool windows on the power house.

Cool pipe leading to the turbines.

Cool rivet guys on the pipe.

Downstream from the third falls.

Nick and the third falls.

Mostly normal selfie.

Downstream side of the power house.

Saturday night we camped next to the Deschutes River, which is quite the thing. There is a lot of water going through there and it's pretty rocky and shallow so it's moving fast. The fishing must be great because there were quite a few folks around angling and there were a bunch of rickety looking platforms cantilevered out over the water. It looked very exciting. There are a lot of campgrounds through there to host the fisherpeople, which was nice. We stayed at the Oasis camping area right below Maupin. We ended up getting our dinner and breakfast from the grocery store in town because the adapter for our propane tank apparently deformed during its test run and was no longer gas-tight. We have since obtained a better one. It all turned out for the best because I had amazing shepherd's pie for breakfast and now I'm inspired to make my own.

Truck and campsite with the swanky part of Maupin overlooking it all.

Breakfast spot.

Sunday we did a 5 mile hike from the Criterion Ranch Trailhead, south of Maupin on 197. It was beautiful open deserty plains. We had intended to hike to a waterfall but the relevant stream was not flowing so in the end we just hiked to a cleft in some rocks. But the views were great.

Pretty yellow bush.

Trail through the scrubby grass.

Desert selfie.

I think this is a meadow for part of the year.

View down to the Deschutes.

Selfie with chossy cliffs.

Truckventure: Panther Creek

We took the truck out this weekend for the first time with a minimum-functionality platform in the back (has a mattress but no drawers and certainly no electric). We built the platform from 20 mm aluminum T slot extrusion. The mattress is 4" high density foam on 19/32" plywood. When we first put the mattress in the headroom seemed low but doable. I think it must have expanded some more because now it's pretty claustrophobic in there. We're going to need either a taller topper or a way to lift the topper a bit when we're parked. Or possibly a shorter platform, but we have big dreams for the kitchen drawer.

For the venue, we headed over the river to Panther Creek in Washington. The truck did great on the gravel forest roads. We went over several sections that would have stopped the Yaris. We were planning to do dispersed camping but ended up finding a spot in Panther Creek Campground, which was lucky because everyone was out for Labor Day weekend. We found a cool spot on the creek with some downed logs that formed a nice bench. The water was beautifully clear but crazy cold.

On Sunday we drove the rest of the way up to Panther Creek Falls and visited the overlook. It's a pretty nice cascade falls. There was a trail down to the bottom but we didn't hike all the way down. 

On our way back to town we stopped at the Bonneville Dam to admire the fish in the fish ladder. There were 10k Chinook salmon counted going through the fish ladder per day this weekend.

Adventure Truck

My brother and his wife have been building out a custom camper van and it's super cool. I am v. jealous but I wasn't feeling quite that ambitious so Nick and I bought a little truck to spruce up as a camping-mobile. It's a black 2001 Ford Ranger, as yet unnamed. It should be much more capable on the forest roads than the Yaris is. We're planning to do a bed platform with a drawer or two underneath, we'll see how it goes.

Utah travels, Willis Creek

Brian and I spent a week in April hiking and biking in Utah. Brian has always wanted to bike the Slickrock trail, so that was our inspiration for the trip. We wisely realized we are in no shape to be mountain biking 6 straight days at 4,000 feet so we bookended the biking with two days of canyon hikes in Escalante Grand Staircase National Monument on either then. In case you're wondering (as I did many times on this trip) Portland is 50 feet above sea level.

We made our first base in Escalante, UT at a nice little camping/RV park on the edge of town. The local guide shop recommended Willis Creek and Bull River Gorge as fun non-technical slot canyons. We started in Willis Creek, which carves a wide-ish (10-20 feet) slot on and off for about a 1.5 miles from the road until it joins Sheep Creek. The hike was flat and relaxed, with just a bit of water flow, and the rock was gorgeous. All intersecting layers of slanted sandstone. 

One of several narrows on Willis Creek.

I love the layered texture in the Utah sandstone.

Another textured wall.

View from the fire road headed home.

We had a couple hours of daylight left after Willis Creek so we headed further down the fire road to check out Bull River Gorge. We found the top of the gorge but couldn't figure out how to get down into it. It appears about 100-200 feet deep and maybe 8 feet wide at the top, very cool. I now have the entrance beta and fully intend to go back sometime to hike through it. 

On our way home to camp we stopped at Escalante Petrified Forest State Park and did the three mile petrified wood trail. I had previously only seen a handful of petrified logs out in nature, although I am the proud owner of a small chunk of petrified wood. This park was amazing, so many boulders, logs, and piles of petrified wood. The rock took on a whole rainbow of colors. My favorites were a brilliant yellow that commonly formed the outer shell of the logs and a rick pink-purple that sadly did not photograph well. The trail was steep and tiring but very worth it. Five stars, would complain my way up again.

We got so excited when we came to the first petrified log, not realizing this was 0.1% of the petrified wood on the trail.

Rainbow rock with purple and yellow sections.

We also saw sandstone with this interesting bb texture.

 

Discovering Mt. Adams

We stumbled upon the Mt. Adams wilderness almost by accident. Our first camping trip this year we hoped to stay at Smith Rock, but it was packed. We kept heading east and ended up in Ochoco National Forest, which was lovely but kind of far for a weekend trip. It also skewed more toward off-roading than hiking trails, making it hard to explore on foot. Next we celebrated Memorial day by embedding the Yaris in a snow drift on the south side of Mt. Hood. That was also good fun but still too crowded. We didn't pass a single campground with sites available. Mt. Hood National Forest has abundant opportunities for dispersed camping but I consider fire to be half the point of camping and building my own firepit every time doesn't feel super low-impact.

In a bid to get out of the Portland crowd radius, I started looking across the Columbia into Washington. The Twin Falls campground in Gifford Pinchot National Forest sounded pretty great so one Saturday Nick and I drove up to check it out. The campground is nicely situated on a small river near some waterfalls. Sadly all the sites were full by the time we got there. Judging from the number of empty beer cans on the picnic tables it wasn't going to be our scene anyhow. Undaunted, we continued on to Olallie Lake. Only one other site was taken and the view of Mt. Adams across the lake was worth several waterfalls at least.

Sunday we hiked up the road from Tahklahk Lake to a nice big lava pile and a boggy meadow. The road was 70% covered in snow, too deep for a Yaris (I know these things) but passable for a big truck. On the way back we helped a couple dig their car out, which was good because we owed the universe a favor for the very nice fellow who helped us dig our car out over Memorial day. There are several trails, including the PCT, in the Mt. Adams wilderness and the mountain makes a very inspiring adversary. We've been back two more times already and I have more hikes I want to do in the future.

Mt. St. Helens overlook from Highway 30.

Mt. Adams across Olallie Lake.